Description:
Elephants, writes German wildlife photographer Reinhard Künkel, are strange creatures. "Despite their size," he writes, "elephants by no means claim undisputed precedence in all their dealings with other animals. The privileges they might derive from their awesomeness and strength they are often too gentle and peaceable to claim." Yet an elephant that makes room for an annoyingly chiding pair of crested cranes one minute will defend its territory against a curious human the next, and, as Künkel relates, some of the images in this fine suite of photographs were the result of hair-raising negotiations with elephants on their native turf. Few wildlife photographers have worked in such close proximity with their subjects, as he notes in some of the wry autobiographical vignettes that open his book, and Künkel's 120-plus color plates capture elephants in all aspects of their daily lives: eating, bathing, traveling, playing, fighting, and, well, making other elephants. Künkel has spent many years among elephants throughout East Africa, and his familiarity with their ways affords his readers an exceptionally fine experience in armchair nature travel. --Gregory McNamee
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